Power-transmission mechanism



UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

ROMEO L. WTLLTAM'SON, or MOUNT VERNON, OHIO, AssIGNoR 'ro THE WILLIAMSONHYDRAULIC lMACHINE COMPAANY, OF MOUNT VERNON, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF.

OHIO.

T o all whom t may concern Be it known that I, ROMEO L. WILLIAMSON, acitizenA of the United States, residing at Mount Vernon, in the countyof Knox and l State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Power-Transmission Mechanism, of which the\following 1sa specification. c

This invention relates to power transmission mechanism and is directedto the general typerdisclosed in my copending application Serial Number205,010. f

In the present case, I have shown amaterially improved structure foraccomplishing results similar to that described and claimed in mycopending application, the prmclple of operation in both cases being ofa very similar nature. In this application, one object of the inventionresides in what may be termed the drivin head structure whereby thedriven shaft erives its rotary motion from the driving shaft. In thiscase, the pistons are shapedand arranged to bear d1- rectly upon thedriving head. Also, another novel featurev resides in the arrangement ofvalves governing the admission of liquid from the low to the highpressure compartments. n

A further object of the invention residesl in the novel lstructure andcooperation with the remaining parts of the means for controlling therate of flow from the high pressure compartment to the low pressurecompartment whereby the ratio of speed variation is directly determined.

The preferred embodiment of my invention is shown in the'accompanyingsheet of drawings in whichsimilar characters of ref.

erence designate which- Figure 1 is a central longitudinal section takenthrough my improved-...transmission mechanism, and

. Fig. 2 is a cross section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. l and looking inthe direction of the arrows.

In this application, just as in my former corresponding partsy and inapplications, I employA a casingemember vor liquid confining member 1which is formed to include a low pressure compartment 2 and a highpressure compartment 3. This casing 1 is rigidly mounted upon thedriving shaft 4 which may be connected` 'directly with an en ine or anyother suitable source of power wIiile the driven shaft 5 is capableSpecification of Letters Patent.

POWER-TRANSMISSION MEcHAivIsM. i

Patented Nov. 2, 1920.

Application led November 8, 1918. Serial No. 261,732.

- a great measure upon the amount of work the driving structure isrequired to do and the smoothness with which it is performing itsfunction. In the present case, the high pressure compartmenty is shownas consisting of a plurality of passages 8 and 9, the former connectingthe various cylinders so that all are in communication with each otherand they latter leading to a central discharge opening 10 whereby thehigh pressure oil may be returned through suitable valve mechanism tothe low pressure compartment. It will be understood that while it isnecessary that eachl cylinder should have a means of communication withthe discharge opening 10, the specific arrangement may take any one of anumber of forms, that shown in Fig. 2 being particularly desirable. Eachof the cylinders is lined with a cylinder sleeve 11 carryin a valve 12at its high pressure end as is il ustrated particularly in F ig. l. Inthis' figure, it will be lnoted that the valves 12 permit the How ofliquid from the cylinders into the high pressure compartment and areseated by means of springs 13 encircling the valve stems and bearingagainst a pin 14 at one end and against the bearing member 15 at theiropposite ends. These bearing members are .each provided with a pluralityof openings 16 permitting the flow of liquid from the Each cylinder isprovided with a piston 17 open at one end and preferably closedV at itsopposite end with a spherical surface such as shown at 18. A valve 19 islocated in the bottom of each piston to permit the admission of oil fromthe low pressure compartment into the cylinder on the out stroke of thepiston butv which remains closed during the instroke of the piston atwhich time the valve 12 may be permitted to open to force the loil intothe high pressure com Dartment. The manner of moua-:ing the cylinders tothe high pressure compartment.

valves 19 and the springs for seating them is practically identical withthat described in connection with the valves 12, it being understoodthat the valves 12 are carried directly by the cylinder sleeves whilethe valves 19 are carried directly by the pistons. in order that theliquid from the low pressure compartment may. have access to theinterior of the pistons, the latter are provided with a plurality ofopenings 20 which lead into their interior beneath the valves 19 asshown." These pistons are further forced out of their cylinders bytheaction of the springs 21, their inward movement being caused by thedriving head struc-ture carried by the endof the driven shaft `5 andtheir inward movement being also resisted by the volume of oil containedin the high pressure compartment.

This driving head structure is shown as comprising 'a casting 21 keyedto the driven shaft 5 as shown at 43. The rear l end ofthe casting 21 isfinished sothat it will lie in a plane located at right angles to thedriven shaft and is caused to bear against a thrust bearing 22, thewearing plates "23 and 24 being placed in the posi tion to permit theeasy operation of this bearing to eliminate excess loss of power.

lt will be understood that this thrust bearing operates in the usual andwell know/'nA manner. At its opposite side, this casting 21 is finishedso that its face lies at an angle other than a right angle with respectto the driven shaft and is likewise provided with a wearing plate 25which is rigidly lsecured thereto to cooperate with va roller bearingshown generally at 26. The opposite face plate for this bearing 27 )isnot secured to the hub 28 of the casting 21 but is capable of freerotation thereon so that it may rotate independently of the rotation ofthe casting 21.

The driven shaft 5v is shown as lbeing centrally bored at 29 to permitthe'passare -l `of a valve operating rod 30 therethroug this rod beingpacked in connection vwith the driven shaft by meansj of a packingstructure shown at 31. is further hollowed out at its inner end as shownat 32 and is also mounted in connection with the casing member 1 bymeans of a pair of sets of roller bearings 44 and" 45, these beingprovided to reduce the loss of power to a minimum. This hollowportion 32alines with a correspondingly hollow portion 33 in the center of thecasing 1 as shown. It is in these two hollowed portions that the valve34 for controlling` the rate of flow of the liquid` from the highpressure to the low pressure compartment is located. This valvestructure comprises a liner member 35 rigidlyv secured to the casing 1and provided with a plurality of openings 36 of a size to graduallyincrease vThis driven shaft in sectional area from the left of Fig. 1to' the right. W'ithin' this liner member 35 there operates the mainvalve sleeve 37 which sleeve is open at its left hand end and isconnected as shown at 38 to the operating rod 30 at its opposite end.Adjacent the connection 38 are a plurality of openings 39 which leadinto the hollow portion32 of the driven shaft and communication is hadfrom this point directly into the low pressure compartment by means ofthe openings 40 in the driven shaft itself and the .openings 41 in thehub 28 of the casting 21', these latter sets of openings aliniiig withcach other as shown in Fig.

rThe operation of my improved transmission mechanism is asfollows. lt isassumed that the structure has been in operation and that it has beenproperly filled with liquid such as oil and during its operation thatthe high pressure compartment has been completely filled. Under theseconditions, the piston on the extreme upper lhalf of the mechanism willbe inits extreme lower position and the corresponding piston on thelower half will be in its extreme outward position. The intermediatepistons will be on their way in ori-one side and on their way out on theother. If the valve 37 is in the position shown in Fig. 1, it will beimpossible for those pistons on the one side of the casing which arebeing urged inwardly to be moved in such direction and consequently theends of these pistons form a direct grip on the driving head structureon the end of the driven shaft to rotate this driven shaft at the'samespeedfof rotation as the driving shaft. However, should the possiblebecause the inclination of the driv-A ing head tends to force, one-halfof the total number of pistons into their cylinders which forces the oilcontained in these pistons into the high pressure compartment. It willbe understood that these pistons have been filled with oil on theiroutward stroke inA which case their valves 12 would be closed and thesuction created would open the valves 19. This then permits a restrictedcirculation of oil from the high pressure to the low pressure"compartment depending upon the amount of opening of the valve 37.

The cylinders as a whole rotate at the same rate of speed as the driving.shaft 4 because they are connected therewith but because of the inwardyielding of their pistons during such rotation, the driven shaft isrotated at a reduced rate of speed. The pistons themselves bear verytightly against the plate 27 because of the pressure of the oil in thehigh pressure compartment and also because of the inclination at whichthis plate is set. lhile the pistons are not mechanically connected tothis plate, there is no relative movement between them because of thepressure of the pistons against the plate and therefore this plate alsoalways-rotates at the same rate of speed as the drive shaft but thecastinoA 2l is rotated at a slower speed because of the gradual yieldingof the pistons already mentioned. This is permitted by the functioningof the roller bearing 2G which is mounted on the hub' 28 to rotate i.thereon or to oat thereon. During the period that the driven shaftrotates at the same over the inner surface of the plate 27 and at 'thesame time they are bodily'rotated about the driven shaft as a centeran'amount corresponding to the reduction in speed.' 'Ihe same Iactiontakes place in regard to the thrust bearing 22. p

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying sheet of drawings, it will'be apparent that -I haveprovided a type of transmission mechanism which is very efficient invoperation and which provides for an indefinite number of speeds betweenthe driving and driven shaft ranging from a dead lock between the two toa complete .release between the two dependin upon the amount of openingof the valve 3 The smoothness with "which this variation in speed isattained is dependent -in a certain degree upon the number of cylindersand pistons used. It is 'preferable to have more than one piston carry.the entire turning load)or torque when the top and bottom'pistons are inthe positions illustratedin the drawings. Therefore, I have shown theentire mechanism as comprising 8 cylinders and pistons although thisnumber is not absolutely necessary. Oil enters the cylinders from thelow pressure compartment 2 through the openings 20 and through thevalves 19. From there it is forced into the high pressure compartment asthe pistons are moved inwardly by passage through the valves 12 fromwhere it passes through the various passagewaysS and 9 to the centeropening l0 and the hollow portion 33. litt this point it-encounters themain controller valve mechanism 37 and if this valve is open, it passesthrough the openings 36 to the interior of the valve 37 from where it ispermitted to enter the hollow portion 32 and the driven shaft throughthe openings ,39. From this point, centrifugal force will throw it intothe low pressure compartment by passage through the openings 40 and 4l.If desired, the entire casing structure may s erve as a 'liy wheel andin the case of an automobile, it may be provided with a plurality ofteeth 42 to coperate with the starting mechanism. r

1lv/Vhat I claim is:

In a transmission mechanism of the character described, the combinationwith a driving and a driven shaft, of means for forming a drivingconnection between said shafts comprising a casing member rigidlycarried by the driving shaft and divided into high and low pressurecompartments, a plurality of cylinders interposed between saidcompartments and disposed in an array around said .driving shaft to beparallel therewith, said cylinders being in communication with eachother by means of said high pressure compartment, said high pressurecompartment leading into a longitudinal central passage located in saidcasing, a regulating valve in said passage `governing the rateof low ofliquid from the high.

to" the low pressure compartment, said driven shaft having a centrallongitudinal passage therethrough, an operating rod for said valvepassing through the longitudinal passage ofsaid shaft, pistons movablein `said cylinders, and means carried by the Ydriven shaft forcoperation with said pistons and' arranged to successively move theminto their respective cylinders upon a relative rotative movementbetween shafts.

In testimony whereof I aiiX my signature.

ROMEO L. WILLIAMSON.

